INDIANAPOLIS – How about a little game of good news/bad news Indianapolis Grand Prix edition?

The good news for IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway is that president Doug Boles is predicting a 3-5% uptick in attendance over last year for this Saturday's sixth edition of the IMS IndyCar road-course race.

The bad news is that the month of May kickoff event is entering its third consecutive season without an entitlement sponsor.

In keeping with custom, he would not reveal exact numbers or what a 3-5% increase actually means in terms of total fans. However, IndyStar estimated there were around 35,000 fans in attendance for last years's race, which would mean this year's attendance figures could be expected to be in the range of 36,000 on the low end of Boles' estimate to around 36,750 on the high end.

Or, Boles suggested, if the weather cooperates, maybe even bigger than that.

"Right now we’re in the critical window — Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday — for people who haven’t purchased a ticket yet," Boles said. "The walk-up is really important for this race. It really does tell us whether we’re in good shape or not, and that’s impacted a lot by weather, so that five-day forecast is critical.

"We'll get to that 3-5% if we get traditional walk-up, and we know what the average is," Boles said. "We're not asking for an obnoxious walk-up. But if the weather's nice, and we have a really good walk-up, then it’ll be better than that."

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Fans watch the action on the track during the running of the 2018 IndyCar Grand Prix, Saturday, May 12, 2018(Photo: Doug McSchooler/for IndyStar)

Credit for the anticipated increase belongs at least in part to fans and drivers' growing acceptance of the Grand Prix as the official kickoff to May, Boles said. He remembers how hesitant some fans were about anything other than the Indianapolis 500 taking place on the hallowed grounds of IMS.

He was hesitant, too.

"We had a lot of push-back from traditionalists when we made the change — and I consider myself a traditionalist," Boles said. "But I think they saw we had an opportunity to make a change that actually helps build the Indy 500, and I think people have actually gotten on board with that.

"I think the drivers embracing it helps bring the fans as we go forward. ... I definitely think it helps the 500, because it starts the month off on national TV; attendance this weekend will be 10 times better than it would be for just an oval opening weekend. It's really been a positive thing."

But when is that positive thing going to generate the race's next entitlement sponsor? Hopefully soon, Boles said, but there's nothing imminent on the horizon.

Angie's List held the mantle for the first three iterations of the race but was forced to bail after 2016 when facing financial woes.

Since then, Boles and company have been hard at work hunting for a replacement. Thus far, there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

"We continue to talk to some folks, but I wouldn’t say we’re close at this time," Boles said. "Hopefully by the time we get through the summer months and start thinking about next year, we get to a point where we feel like we’ve got something that makes sense."

However, while having an entitlement sponsor is ideal, it's not critical to the race's long-term health. The IndyCar Grand Prix, even without Angie's List or another sponsor, is a profitable race based on ticket sales alone, Boles pointed out.

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The field of 24 cars crowd into the first turn after taking the green flag to start the running of the 2018 IndyCar Grand Prix, Saturday, May 12, 2018(Photo: Doug McSchooler/for IndyStar)

Furthermore, IMS and IndyCar had bigger fish to fry the past 12 months. IndyCar was focused on finding an entitlement sponsor to replace the departing Verizon — and did so with NTT. Meanwhile, IMS concentrated on securing a new presenting sponsor for its most important event: the Indianapolis 500.

It succeeded by landing Gainbridge.

"Having those two big things knocked out in the fall of last year and early part of this, has helped," Boles said. "But now the next step in those other pieces we have left, and that includes the entitlement of the IndyCar Grand Prix. ... This year is really a critical year for trying to figure out where we’re at with the IndyCar Grand Prix."

Boles is hopeful traction can be made. Between the GP being broadcast on network TV (NBC) and IMS and 500 boasting new big-name partners — Speedway as the official fuel/convenience store and Pepsi as the official soda/water — he believes more new partners will be keen to team up with IMS, as well.

"I think all those things together make it easier the next time we go to the marketplace, and say here’s the next thing we have: this entitlement opportunity to kick the month of May off," Boles said. "I think that makes it a lot easier to sell when they see people who have embraced what we’ve got going on here as well, and people who are really activated in the market."